2 big things to watch for in Cavs-Raptors Game 3

The Toronto Raptors are two losses away from vacation, but they still have one real chance to extend their season.

They entered the series as the favorites against LeBron on Tuesday and on Saturday they face a must-win Game 3 and they also have the worst Finals odds of any team left in the playoffs. Life, as they say, comes at you fast.

But if the Raptors can avoid an 0-3 hole they have a little bit of hope.

Ty Lue found ways to get Kevin Love involved and LeBron’s work in the post perplexed the Raptors’ top-five defense. What the Raptors try may not matter, but they do have a few more things they can do. Based on what we’ve learned in the last two games, here are the two big things to look for in Game 3.

What can the Raptors do against the 4-5 combo of Love and LeBron?

This is the real question facing the Raptors. Secluded island resorts and drinks by the pool are in their future but they can’t go down doing simply what they’ve done.

Neither James nor Love are playing at their most desired position, but it’s very clearly the move against this Raptors team, who were punished for their inability to defend it. And they shouldn’t feel too bad, the rest of the NBA can’t either.

They got Love going with dribble hand-offs after pick and rolls. Then Love would get a guard on the block.

The goal here is simple: get Love on a smaller defender. Toronto elected to switch almost any screen involving Love due to his ability to shoot. Here, the Raptors switch off the ball which ends up sticking Lowry on Love. Cleveland really had their pick of good matchups.

Here’s a dribble hand-off look that the Raptors switched.

When the plays involve their guards, can they afford to switch? Or if they are going to switch, should they put a better defender in the game?

In my series preview, I wondered when the Raptors would be forced to start Pascal Siakam. Siakam in tandem with OG Anunoby gives the Raptors lots of flexibility to switch, especially on the dreaded Love-LeBron side pick and roll. Love’s screening also created problems in tandem with Kyle Korver away from the ball. Siakam’s length and athleticism might make a difference.

The Cavs found different ways to get Love going but if either Anunoby or Siakam or on either, it’s hard to imagine a better scenario for the Toronto defense. And let’s be clear, LeBron and Love may still roast them anyway.

But the point is, the Raptors shouldn’t go down without having tried all options at their disposal. Like Playing The Right Way and trusting the pass in the first two games, the best intentions may not matter against the star power of the Cavs. But this Raptors team has been too much fun all season to let their season go down in a whimper.

If they want to push the pace and push the Cavs to their limit, they’ve got to have their best athletes out there. I thought the odd-man out in this series would be Valanciunas, but Ibaka’s suspect play makes it tough to trust him at center. Valanciunas, meanwhile, has had a strong showing in this series.

Toronto had a +15.6 net rating with both Siakam and Anunoby on the court in the regular season in 156 total minutes, per NBA.com. It doesn’t matter who plays at the five, maybe it’s Siakam himself, but Siakam-Anunoby deserves a shot.

LeBron James in the lab

As I said above, it may not matter what the Raptors try to do. LeBron has been putting on a clinic this season in the clutch. He was the league leader in scoring in situations when the game was within five points in the last five minutes.

While he still got to the basket, over 44.9% of his 129 shots in the clutch came at the rim compared to 51.4% of his shots coming at the rim overall in the regular season.

Expect to see LeBron working in the post once again, finding cutters and going to work with the jumper as he did on Thursday night to pick apart the Raptors defense. Overall, James has been a league average shooter from the midrange and from distance this season. And he was better than anyone on deep 3-pointers this season, yes, even Steph Curry. Mix that in with his all-time ability to finish at the rim, it’s an almost impossible combination to stop.

This is the new LeBron and with the way things look right now, we’ll probably get to watch it for a few more weeks.

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